Threat transcendence, ideological articulation, and frame of reference reconstruction: preliminary concepts for a theory of subcultural schism

Abstract

Schism is the division of a social group into two or more relatively distinct and sometimes antagonistic factions. Recent case studies suggest that schism is common among contemporary deviant youth subcultures. Explanations of subcultural schism, however, remain largely neglected. Thus, in response to theoretical deficiencies among existing academic literature, this article elaborates a conceptual foundation for a theory of subcultural schism. Building upon traditional and phenomenological theories of deviance, this article argues that deviant youth subcultures are collective reactions to commonly perceived moral or material threats. In turn, drawing upon theories of schism in new religious groups, this article proposes generally that subcultural schism occurs when intra-subcultural differentials in perceived threat cause internal subcultural social networks to galvanize respectively around alternate sets of subcultural norms, values and beliefs.